CSI Miami Of Saints and Singers
by GrissomJam
Summary: Calleigh and Eric investigate a multiple abduction while Horatio and Ryan work the theft of a music exhibit. Rated PG-13 for Violence.


CSI Miami: "Of Saints and Singers"

An original fan fiction.

"CSI: Miami" and all it's characters are owned by CBS Television, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Alliance Atlantis.

All original characters are my own.

CSI: Miami— "Of Saints and Singers"

--1--

The flashing lights of the Miami-Dade police cruisers lit up the road in front of Eric Delko as he drove the CSI Humvee toward the latest scene. Normally they wouldn't be dealing with a night scene, but the department was way overloaded at the moment. Much of city's law enforcement budget over the last year had been spent on securing the polling places for the recent presidential election. Florida had made a national scene in 2000, thankfully the problems had been avoided this time around. However, it made city funds even more scarce, and just about every criminalist in the city of Miami was on a scene tonight.

He pulled up and parked behind an unmarked sedan he recognized as Frank Tripp's. Opening the driver's side door, he exited, hauling his field evidence kit with him. It was a rather brisk evening for Miami, and Eric's slender Latin frame was partially obscured by a dark blue jacket that read "CSI: Miami-Dade" on the back in large white letters. He signed in to the scene and ducked under the tape. As he approached, he saw Calliegh Duquesne's swarthy figure meandering around a wrecked car, popping off photographs. Off to the right was Detective Tripp. Eric approached him first.

"Hey Frank, I didn't know this was a homicide. What are you doing here?"

"Well Delko, we don't know what it is. So here I am."

"Really? I was told it's a priority scene."

"It is, one of about four in Miami tonight."

Eric arched his eyebrows as Calleigh approached them. "Hey Eric. Did you get any sleep the last 24 hours?"

"Not much, yourself?"

"Not a wink."

"What's so priority about this case, Calleigh?"

Her long blonde hair ran out from under a dark blue baseball cap that was emblazoned with the initials "CSI: MDPD." The cap matched the jackets both her and Eric were wearing. Calleigh's figure was accentuated by a stylish pair of tan slacks, and of course the ever present belt which held her badge and pistol. Eric thought she looked remarkably hot tonight, with the ball cap and the camera dangling around her neck.

"Well we suspect we have two missing individuals. Both missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

"Oh," Eric said. "From this car? I thought they rode bikes?"

"Not these days, they're more modern now. This red Saturn here belongs to the local LDS mission."

Eric walked up to the red car. It appeared to have rear ended a green Ford Taurus just after making a right hand turn. The Taurus was still on the scene. Eric peered inside the Saturn. There was a gunshot hole in the glass, and a lot of blood in the car.

"Yeah, Calleigh, this looks pretty nasty."

--2--

Across town in a more industrial district, Horatio Caine stood with his hands on his hips. Before him was a large, empty warehouse. That was significant, because just a few hours earlier, this warehouse had held the "50 Years of Rock N' Roll" exhibit, administered by the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. In three days time, the exhibit was supposed to go up for public view in a downtown Miami museum. The collection consisted of many articles from such artists as The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Ramones, and The Clash. It also had articles from more recent bands such as U2, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and so on. The collection was valued in the millions of dollars, and it was all gone.

The only thing housed here now was the body of a dead security guard. Alexx Woods was poised over him, doing her work. Next to Horatio stood young Ryan Wolfe, CSI's newest team member. Caine had dispensed with the dark blue department jackets in favor of his usual suit jacket and collared shirt, sans tie. Wolfe, however, was not so privileged. He wore one, along with the CSI ball cap. That was fine with Horatio, because he didn't know where Ryan bought those horrible shirts he so often wore. Perhaps he should take fashion advice from Calleigh instead of Valera. The two men walked inside the warehouse, towards Alexx.

"What do you see, Ryan?" Horatio asked his young protégée.

Ryan answered, "Not much. A dead guard. That's about it."

"Hmm...are you sure, look a little closer. Remember, Locard's principle says there's always something to find."

Ryan pulled out his flashlight and began skimming the ground. As Horatio watched him, Detective Yelina Salas approached him. "Hey Horatio," she said.

"Good evening Yelina. Please tell me you have something to add."

"Well, a little." Yelina's Columbian accent was thick. She was a tall, slender, very attractive woman. Her look may have been disarming at first, but Horatio knew she was one tough officer, and smart too.

She continued. "Our dead security guard is named Chip Timmins. He's worked for this firm, Four Alarm Security, for 12 years. Supervisor says he was one of their best."

Horatio wanted more. "Did the supervisor say if Mr. Timmins was the only person on duty tonight?"

Yelina looked at her notepad. "He was. There was supposed to be someone else, a Randy Bates. Mr. Bates called in sick a few hours ago, so the supervisor came down to pull a shift with Timmins."

"Yes, smart idea since they had a multi-million dollar exhibit housed on the property. I take it the supervisor was the one who called in the crime?"

"Yes, Horatio. When he got here, he found the door open and Mr. Timmins dead right where he's at now. He said he didn't touch anything."

Alexx completed her chores then approached Horatio and Yelina. "Hey guys, we're all done. Looks like we got some breaks though. Apparently, the slugs that killed our guard are still in the body."

"Excellent," Horatio said. "Anything else I need to know at the moment?"

"Not really. There was blood under the body, so I'd say he wasn't moved. He was shot where he fell."

"That's interesting."

"Why?" Yelina asked.

"Well, if he was shot in this secure building, he had to let the shooter in, right?"

"You think it's an inside job?" Alexx asked.

"It sure does look that way, doesn't it?"

--3--

Back at the car accident scene Eric knelt down behind the green Ford, the car which the missionaries had hit. Peering closely with his flashlight, he examined the reverse lights on the back of the car. "Hey, Calleigh, come check this out."

Calleigh disengaged herself from Frank Tripp and knelt down beside Eric. "What did you find?"

"Filament inside the reverse lights has been oxidized. You know what that means."

"Yeah, that means the reverse lights were on when the cars collided and the lights broke. He backed into our victims."

"Yup, I guess we can throw the road rage theory out."

"Probably, this definitely looks intentional. Keep going on this car. I'm going to check out the missionaries' car."

Eric kept processing the Taurus. He collected paint samples from the damaged area, as well as a control sample from an undamaged area of the bumper. Calleigh examined the inside the red Saturn with her flashlight, snapping some photos. There was high velocity spatter on the rear passenger side seat and on the inside of the rear passenger door. One gunshot hole appeared in the rear driver's side door window. The front drivers side door window was rolled down.

Tripp approached her, "Calleigh, got some more info."

"What is it Frank?"

"The LDS Mission came up with the names of the gentleman who had checked out this car. One is Clint Davis, age 20. The other is Aaron Fulton age 19."

"Well, at least we know who we're looking for. There's a lot of blood spatter in the back seat, looks like the driver was probably hit with a shot. Lets check all the hospitals in the area for gunshot wounds to head or neck area within the last three hours."

Eric called out from the other car. "Calleigh, I got a couple of presents for you."

Calleigh smiled broadly and walked over to Eric again. He was shining his flashlight under the green taurus. There, highlighted by the flashlight beam, were two shell casings. "Oh, nice find Eric."

"Yeah, I bet the shooter was in a hurry and kicked them under the car, hoping we'd miss them in the darkness."

"They always think foolishness like that."

"Yeah, well I'll collect them, then I'm moving to the inside of the car."

"Great, Eric. I'm going to move to the inside of the missionary car now too."

Calleigh walked back over to the vehicle she had been examining. She carefully opened the front drivers side door and searched the inside front seat. She saw no visible blood spatter in the front. However, she did notice that there was a dark stain, still wet, on the passenger side. She took a sample of it and marked it. She could guess what it was, the seat stunk of urine.

She next moved to the back seat. She switched gloves to avoid any cross-contamination from the biological material in the front seat. She took more closeup photos of the blood spatter patterns, and took samples of each of them. Then, as she moved her flashlight to the floor, she saw a box of books. There was no lid, and she could plainly see "The Book of Mormon" embossed on the front of the books on top. They were also spattered with blood. True enough, there was a void in the spatter pattern on the floor where the box had been.

After putting the box of books in a bigger cardboard box, she examined the seat itself. The broad smile returned to "Bullet-Girl's" face. There weretwo bullet holes, not far from each other, in the cushion. Taking her scalpel, she cut a square out of the seat, giving the bullets a wide berth. Then she did a quick exam of the trunk, and found nothing of interest. She talked to the auto-detail and arranged to have the car towed to the lab. After that, she returned to Eric and briefed him on her findings.

He listened to her, then smiled. "I've got a couple of things too."

"Ooh, do tell," Calliegh said.

"How about show and tell?"

"Even better."

Eric held up two evidence bags. "Bag number one, cigarette butt. Bag number two, Miami Heat baseball style cap. Both from the front seat of the suspect car."

"Ooh, DNA heaven. Valera will be thrilled!"

--4--

Ryan Wolfe had been searching for almost an hour. It was tedious at best, but he lived for it. All the work paid off when you found that all-important clue. He had been scanning the bare warehouse floor all this time, looking for casings, or anything that might help him and Horatio draw a bead on this case. Finally he was rewarded.

He had been doing a spiral search pattern, getting closer to the body. He vas very close to the outline of the body now, and found what we was looking for, two faint footprints, left in blood. He smiled and opened his kit, removing a bottle of luchomalachite green, and sprayed it on the footprints. Slowly they became more visible, giving off a greenish hue. He snapped a couple of photos, then called Horatio over.

Caine hovered over his shoulder. "Good catch Ryan. What do you see?"

"Well, they're both right shoes. So that means at least two people walked through the little bit of blood here. Also, they're two distinct patterns."

"Very good Ryan. Now, finish your search pattern."

Ryan scowled a bit as Horatio turned away. Horatio smiled to himself. Ryan was working out quite well. He might never replace Tim Speedle, but Horatio was beyond the point where he expected him to. Not everyone in the lab was at that point yet though, and Ryan was still having a bit of a rough time. Horatio scanned the area for anything else. He saw a hint of silver cloth in a dark corner, tucked behind a crate.

He removed a small digital camera from his blazer pocket and approached the object. Snapping pictures as he moved forward, he saw that the item appeared to be a silver and black backpack, hidden in the dark corner.

"EVERYBODY OUT OF THE BUILDING NOW!"

He turn and spun around, running toward the open door. Ryan followed. He learned when Horatio ran, you followed. Alexx and her staff were right behind them. Suddenly, Alexx tripped and fell over, her briefcase and papers falling all over. Ryan turned around and helped her up. They ran outside and got away from the building.

"What the hell Horatio?" Yelina asked.

"There's a backpack tucked in the corner of the building. Call the bomb-squad."

"Horatio, don't you think you're overreact----"

Just as Yelina uttered these words, a blast ripped through the warehouse, knocking the CSI team to the ground and destroying their crime scene.

--5--

Calliegh and Eric reconvened their investigation back at the crime lab. They didn't have a lot to go on at this point. They had two bullets and two casings, as well as the cigarette butt and baseball cap recovered from the suspect car. They also had the box of Mormon scriptures from the backseat. Eric had done some mapping tapelifts in this suspects car and submitted them to the trace lab. Results from those as well as DNA on the cigarette butt and the hat were still pending. They had also taken some tire-tread impressions from the road, that might have been from a getaway car.

"Here's how I see it, " Eric said. "Somebody was lying in wait for these guys. They make a right turn, and just as they're rounding the corner in the dark, the green car backs up into their car. That was a signal for another part of a team perhaps to approach from the side. Somebody put a couple of shots into the drivers side, one hitting the driver. They yank the missionaries out of the car, and load them into their getaway car, before speeding off."

"That all seems very plausible," Calliegh added. "Why would somebody kidnap a couple of missionaries though? That's odd. How did they get the injured victim across the road to a waiting car without getting blood on the road? There's still a lot of questions."

Eric picked up one of the bloody books out of the box. "I don't know Calliegh. I mean these are good people, I don't know why anyone would want to hurt a couple of religious people like that. It's just messed up."

"Well, people have all different kinds of motives. To them, maybe their reason was perfectly legitimate. It is troublesome though."

"Well, it looks like they didn't mean to kill them. Maybe they'll make some sort of demands or something."

"Yeah, if they wanted to kill them, it would have just taken a bullet in the head, and leave the bodies at the scene, very odd." Calleigh glanced back down at her notebook. "According to Frank, no local hospitals treated any gunshot victims matching our victims descriptions tonight. So either there was not a serious injury, or they had someone trained to deal with it."

"Yeah, or the kid is dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Well, lets hope not."

"We need to find out more about these missionaries, Calleigh."

"Yeah, we do for sure. That leaves us only one place to go."

"Uh-huh. You wanna go to church with me Calleigh?"

She smiled, "You bet. I'll drive."

–6–

After a drive across town, Calleigh rolled the CSI hummer up in front of the local LDS mission. They had arranged for Tripp to meet them there, but he had yet to arrive. A groundskeeper was working out in front of the large, modern looking building. "What can I do for you folks?"

"We're from the Miami-Dade Crime lab, and we'd like to talk to the director here," Calleigh said. Both her and Delko displayed their badges.

"Oh, do you have any news for us?"

"Nothing we can discuss at this time sir, we just need to gather some more information."

"Ok, follow me." The groundskeeper led them through a set of large, glass double doors and through a series of hallways lined with offices and dorm-type rooms. Finally they came to a door that advertised "Mission President." The groundskeeper knocked. A voice inside said, "Come in."

The groundskeeper opened the door to reveal a large, white, bald man in a business suit, seated behind a massive desk. The office was in a state of disarray. Papers cluttered about the desk, several books on the floor opened to various pages. Several more volumes set stacked on the two guest chairs in front of the desk.

Eric guessed it had been a hectic 12 hours or so for this gentleman. He started the conversation. "Sir, we're from the crime lab. I know this has to be a rough time for you. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?"

The man in the suit stood up from his chair and shook hands with Eric and Calliegh. "Of course. I'm Keith Mortensen, the mission president here."

"I'm Eric Delko, and this is Calleigh Duquesne."

"Welcome, uh...let me free up a seat for you." As Mortensen said this, he removed the stacks of books from the guest seats. Eric and Calleigh sat down, and Mortensen returned to his seat behind the desk. "What can I do to help?"

Calliegh spoke up first. "Well sir, we don't have a whole lot to go on here. We were hoping you could give us some information on the missing individuals."

"Sure. You have pictures of them?"

"Yes, we have copies of their driver's licences. We were hoping you could provide us with more personal information."

"I'll tell you anything I know. Clint Davis was here longer. I know more about him."

"Ok, lets start there," Eric said. "He's from Washington state?"

"Yes, he's from the Tacoma area. He's been with us over a year. He actually gets to go home in a few months."

Eric continued. "So he was more familiar with the area than Aaron Fulton?"

"Yes, I'd say that's fair. Elder Fulton was from Idaho. He's only been here a couple of weeks."

"So, would Clint Davis most likely be driving the car?"

"More than likely, yes."

Calleigh perked up next. "Did either of these two boys have any enemies in the area, someone who would want to harm either of them?"

"Well officer, we're not always the most popular people in town, but I don't believe that either Elder Davis or Elder Fulton had any specific problems."

"But you've had problems in the community in general?"

"Actually, we've been doing quite well in this more suburban area. Church membership is up sharply, as is our midweek attendance. We've even gotten the community together on several issues."

"Yeah," Eric said. "I remember you guys got together with a couple of the catholic and protestant churches and protested some adult businesses in the area."

"Yes. We protested a strip club and a couple of adult novelty stores. We thought they were bringing the wrong kind of people into this area."

Calleigh's eyes narrowed. "If I remember sir, two of those businesses had to shut down. Correct?"

"Yes, the strip club and one of the novelty stores."

"Have you received any threats since those protests?"

"We get threats all the time. We usually just disregard them. Like I said, we felt like we were doing well in this community."

"Do you ever get written threats?"

"Yes."

"Have you held on to them?"

"No Ms. Duquesne. We usually just throw them away."

"In future sir, I would ask you to turn those over to the police, especially in light of the current situation."

Mortensen paused. "You don't think this was random, do you?"

"No sir. We have reason to believe this was planned and thought out before hand."

Eric got up out of his chair. "Do you think we could see the rooms where the boys lived?"

"Uh...I guess that would be ok. Why do you need to do that?"

"We would like to get DNA samples from the victims."

"So you can identify a body?"

"We don't have any bodies right now sir, but if it comes to that, yes. Lets hope it doesn't. Any help you give us now will help us find them."

"Alright. Lets go."

Calleigh and Eric followed the mission president out of the office, and up a flight of stairs. They passed several other young missionaries, who each greeted the CSIs. At the end of another long hallway, they entered a room. It was pretty sparse. Two twin beds, one on either side of the room. There was a closet, dresser, and a desk. Eric took out a small digital camera and took a few pictures.

Calleigh approached the bed on the left. On the bed as a white shirt, with a name badge that read "Elder Clint Davis." Strapping on a pair of gloves, she collected the shirt, and another hat on the bed, packaging them in separate brown paper bags.

Eric entered the bathroom that the two victims shared with an adjoining room. He found four toothbrushes, each with a piece of masking tape around the bottom baring a name. He collected the ones that said "Clint" and "Aaron." He walked back into the room, where Calleigh had collected a hair brush from Aaron Fulton's bookbag.

His cell phone rang.

Calleigh listened to Delko's end of the conversation. "..yeah Frank, we're here......uh huh....ok....really? We're on our way."

When Eric got off the phone he frowned at Calleigh. "Thank you for your help Mr . Mortensen. When we have some more info. We'll let you know."

–7–

Back at the lab, Horatio and Ryan sat in the lobby. They were extremely dirty, but uninjured. One of Alexx's assistants hadn't been so lucky. He had taken a piece of shrapnel from the blast in the back of the head, but he was going to be ok. Ryan held a bandage over a bloody elbow. "What was all that about Horatio?"

"Well, it's a terrorist tactic. Commit a crime, and booby trap the scene somehow for the first-responders and investigators."

"You think this was terrorists?"

"No, I don't think so. I think the people who took the exhibit and planted the bomb didn't expect us to be there yet. I don't think they expected the supervisor to come down to the scene. Hence, they just planted the bomb to destroy evidence before we could look at it."

"Because it would be responded to as a fire scene instead of a theft and murder?"

"Yes, exactly."

"So what have we got now? Even Alexx's reports were destroyed. Along with my camera and the photos of the footprints."

"The question is Ryan, what didn't we collect on the outside that still could be intact.?"

Ryan thought about it for a minute. "Tire Treads?

"Doubtful we'll get anything. The fire trucks and water would have obliterated them."

"Well, we can examine the bomb."

Horatio wrinkled his eyebrows and stood up. "That's what I'm going to do. I want you to check and see if there any cargo trucks or semis stolen or rented last night. These guys would have had to have a fleet to move all that stuff. Tell me what you find."

Ryan frowned a bit as Horatio put on his sunglasses and left the lobby.

–8–

It had taken Eric and Calleigh awhile to drive out to the everglades. They were both getting very tired, but it came with the job. Eric had called back to the lab to see if Horatio or Ryan could come lend them a hand, but he was informed of the rough night they had, and relayed the news to Calliegh. They were both just happy their friends were alright.

Up ahead they spotted Tripp's sedan, and a medical examiners truck. Tripp had told Eric on the phone why he hadn't come to the mission house. It was not good news. The hummer eased up behind Frank's sedan and the CSIs exited, kits in hand.

About 20 yards from the site of the road, there lay a body wrapped in a pink blanket from head to toe. There was a name badge pinned to the top of the blanket, with a folded piece of paper pinned underneath. Alexx and Frank stood to side of the body, giving it a wide berth. Calleigh stopped next to the body and took some photos. Eric looked at the name badge. It was Clint Davis.

"I thought I'd wait till you got here," Alexx said.

"I hear you had a bad night." Delko put his arm around Alexx as he said this.

"Not real good baby, but it could have been worse."

Calleigh stopped taking photos and gave Alexx a hug. Despite nearly being killed a few hours before, Alexx still looked calm and collected. Even if she was a little tired.

"How do you two want to do this?"

Calleigh answered. Without Horatio on scene, it was her call. "I don't want to process here. If we open that blanket, we could lose trace from inside."

"I could body bag the whole thing?"

"Lets do that. Keep the body in the blanket. Get a new body bag, and we'll process the bag too. I want that note though."

She bent down and took a couple more photos, including one with a yellow and black evidence marker. Then Delko carefully removed the name badge and paper. He dropped the badge in a bag before unfolding the piece of paper. He read it out loud.

"ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO, UNLESS YOU ALL GO.

DON'T FORGET, WE CAN ALWAYS GET MORE

TOO."

The letter was typed in all capital letters. It had also been done on a typewriter, instead of a computer.

"Well," Frank said, "I guess I got a phone call to make to the mission."

–9–

Horatio Caine pulled back up in front of the skeleton of what used to be the Four Alarm Warehouse. Despite the fact that his life had almost ended here a few hours earlier, his lanky gait was still filled with swagger as he exited the hummer and walked toward the crime scene. He wasn't alone though, besides the bomb squad and some of the swing shift CSIs working the scene, the press was all over the place.

The coverage had been spotty. Horatio had been listening to news coverage on the way over from the lab, and the prevailing theory in the media was that the bomb had gone off with the pieces of the exhibit still inside. That was good. It wouldn't trip his hand to his perps. They would think their plan had gone off smoothly. What they didn't know was that Horatio, Ryan, and much of the Miami-Dade P.D. was already hot on their trail.

Horatio entered the crime scene. Across the grounds, Detective Orlando Ramos, one of MDPD's up and coming detectives was just finishing up answering questions for an aide to the mayor. Horatio strolled over and shook the tall Latino's hand.

"Horatio, glad you're ok." Ramos was a friend of Eric Delko's, so he new Horatio a little bit more than some others on the detective staff. He was taller, and thinner than the Cuban CSI, but as Ramos like point out, he could run faster than Delko.

"Thanks Orlando. Please tell me you guys have come up with some more information while we've been off licking our wounds."

Orlando smiled. "Sure thing Horatio. We've been here all morning. Looks like the explosive device used was a high explosive, bomb squad is thinking C-4 or other plastic, topped off with det cord or a blasting cap. We've also found elements of a timing device, but we haven't been able to piece it together yet."

"Well, that's what our thieves are counting on. Pretty shortly, they're not going to care if we figure it out or not."

"You think they're going to move the stuff?"

"They have to get it out of Miami, ASAP. It's too big of an exhibit to keep hidden. The museum was sending three semi-trucks to pick it all up for the opening. So they'll need at least that much. I've got my team on that. Plus, those products will be way too hot to move in the United States, they're going to need to get it on the fence out of country."

Ramos thought it over. "Well, I would suspect that the explosives would be military in nature. I can get in touch with the local bases, see if there's anything missing."

"Yes Orlando, that's a good idea. Tell me, was their anything left of the dead security guard?"

"Not much, sorry Horatio. We've already sent what's left off to the ME, since he was already pronounced before the bomb. The TV news had a field day with that body bag shot."

Horatio looked at the detective through the top of his trademark sunglasses. "Yes Orlando, they always do. Let me know what you find out on that explosive, ok?"

"Will do, Horatio"

Horatio ambled back towards the hummer, with the press spotting him and shouting for him to answer some questions.

–10–

Back in the autopsy theater, Alexx Woods prepared to work on her next patient. The blanketed body from the everglades sat on her table. Eric and Calleigh had finished processing the inside of the body bag with a small vacuum, and now they were ready to go for the unwrapping.

Calleigh leaned in. "Looks like the blanket is tied around the body with nylon rope." Instead of untying the knots, she carefully cut the rope from around the body. She bagged and tagged it. It would be sent to Valera for DNA.

Eric and Alexx then unrolled the blanket. A stench filled the room. The victim was a white male. He was dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks and dress shoes. He had two gun shot wounds. One grazing woundto the left shoulder area, and one to the chest. "Looks like this is our driver," Eric observed. Calliegh nodded in agreement.

For the next several minutes, Alexx stood to the side as the CSIs went over the inside blanket for trace evidence. They removed several hairs and fibers. They all would have to be analyzed. Alexx watched in admiration as the two worked so meticulously. This was the non-glamourous part of the job. Your face just inches from a dead body as you looked for evidence that was almost microscopic. Calleigh and Eric were two of the best, and they worked very well together.

Finally they both stood upright, and Eric leaned back and popped his back and shoulders. Calleigh looked over at Alexx and said, "Lights please?"

Alexx turned down the theater lights and the CSIs each took a Alternate Light Source flash light in their hands. Some hard to see fibers fluoresced under UV light, and that's what they were searching for now. After a few minutes and a few more fibers were collected, Alexx turned the lights back up.

Now it was her turn to get to work, she carefully cut the shirt from the victim, taking care not to disturb any gun shot or blood evidence. As she removed the pants, she noticed a wallet in the pocket. The wallet belonged to Clint Davis.

"Well," she said, "I guess that's a positive ID."

As Eric took the wallet from Alex, Horatio Caine entered the autopsy theater. "Hey H," Eric said as his boss approached.

"Hey there Eric, how goes your case?"

"Lots of evidence still to process, but no big break yet. How about you? You and Wolfe alright?"

"Yes we are Eric, thank you. Ryan is up in the lab playing on the computer and telephone, hunting down some leads."

"Hey, good to hear."

"You know Eric, I was just upstairs and Valera says she would like to talk to you."

"Oh, yeah, I left my pager in my locker. Thanks, H."

"Yup."

Eric exited in the direction of the DNA lab as Horatio peered over the now open body on Alexx's table. "No mystery, here. Gun shot right to the chest killed this poor kid. I'll see if I can get a bullet fragment for you."

Calleigh lit up at the words "bullet fragment."

Horatio smiled as he watched Alexx gently remove a bullet fragment from the body. Calleigh collected it and tagged it. "Well Horatio, looks like you get Alexx now. I've got some bullets to run!"

"I wouldn't keep you from it for all the world," Horatio said as he watched Calleigh exit with her bullet and her other evidence bags.

Alexx spoke up as she finished her autopsy on the young missionary. "What's up Horatio?"

"You doing ok?"

"Yeah, thanks, still can't get that smoke out of mynose, but yeah, I am. What about you?"

"I'll be better when we catch these guys. Your staff is on the way with what's left of that security guard. Will you see if you can find that bullet for me."

"Hmmm....lots of bullets today, Horatio. I'll let you know if I get it."

"Thank you Alexx," Horatio said as he also made his exit.

–11–

Valera stood at the door of DNA lab, tapping her foot impatiently as Eric approached. "You know Eric, yours isn't the only case I've got today."

"Sorry, Valera. I didn't have my pager on me."

"Yeah, I figured that out after the third unanswered call."

Eric flashed a pearly smile, trying to disarm the DNA tech. Hey, Calleigh liked it!

No such luck this time. Valera rolled her eyes up in her head and tugged Eric by the shirt into the lab. "Come on, I have other work to do."

Eric took a seat as Valera poised herself over several printouts. "Let's start with the least surprising data. I took the DNA for Clint Davis you got from the room. It matched the blood spatter in the car, and on the books."

"Ok, his injuries are consistent with that, what's next?"

"There was DNA from Aaron Fulton in the passenger's seat. Urine stain. Cells can slough off in the urine stream. However, no other DNA from Fulton was found in the samples from the car."

"Alright, so we know he was relatively unharmed when he was abducted."

"Well, that's your area. Now for the good stuff. I got DNA from the cigarette butt and the baseball cap you pulled from the car. They matched. A single XY donor."

"Ok, good. Anything else?"

"Yeah, I ran that DNA profile through CODIS. I got a hit for you." She handed Eric a printout.

Eric's smile got even wider now. "Nice job, Valera. Profile belongs to Al Burnett, age 45, did time for battery and burglary."

"Don't ever say I don't do anything for you, Eric."

Eric flashed her one more smile as he headed out for the Firearms lab. After all, if you were looking for "bullet girl" that's where you looked. True to form, Eric found Calleigh poised over a comparison microscope. "Hey Calleigh, I got news."

Calleigh raised up from the microscope. "So do I."

Eric took the hint. "Alright, you first."

"Well, Alexx pulled a bullet from the body. It's consistent with the two we pulled from the car."

"So we're probably looking for one gun."

"Probably. A nine millimeter."

"Alright, I have better news."

"Better than bullets?"

"Well, I know you're partial, but yes. CODIS hit on the cigarette butt from the perp's car." Eric filled her in on Mr. Al Burnett.

"Well, that's good news. Lets get Tripp on the phone."

–12–

Horatio walked into the lab to find Ryan Wolfe hunched over a computer straining his eyes. "Well, how's it going?"

"Well, no semi-trucks were stolen in the county within the last 5 days. Rentals , commercial and private sales are little tougher to track. I've been speaking to some dealerships, to see if anybody suspicious has been on the radar."

"Anything interesting?"

"No. How did you do?"

"Well, turns out the explosives used to blow up the warehouse were military grade. That's about all we've got. I'm waiting for Detective Ramos to give me a call. He's having the local bases check their inventories."

"Military huh?"

"Yes. What are you thinking Ryan?"

"Well, wouldn't someone in the military, who had access to high explosives, also have access to large military cargo vehicles?"

Horatio though for a moment. Maybe Ryan was on to something.

Ryan continued. "Plus, they'd probably know we'd look for commercial cargo vehicles first. Nobody's going to stop a military convoy going down the road."

"Ok, lets think this through then. Lets say a group with a military connection steals this exhibit using military cargo vehicles. They kill the security guard, load up the goods, then plant the bomb. Where do they go after that? They have to get the hot goods out of the area."

Wolfe chimed back in. "Right, Horatio. Now, you're not going to get that stuff through airport security. Even at a freight terminal."

"Yes, how about railroad? That's not a good option. There's very limited train access here as well."

"Boat. It has to be by boat. If you want to move things in and out of Miami. You do it by boat. Lets say they took the vehicles from the base, they could probably drive back onto the base with the same vehicles without anybody even batting an eye."

"Good thinking Ryan, my bet's on a Navy Base."

"Exactly."

"Let's move," Horatio nearly jumped out of his chair. Ryan, now recharged, followed him out.

–13–

Eric and Calleigh stood on the front lawn of Mr. Al Burnett. As soon as Eric reported the DNA match, a warrant had been issued for the Burnett residence. However, once the police and Tripp had arrived, no one was in the run down, single-story dwelling. After clearing the house, the uniforms vacated the premises, so Eric and Calleigh could do their work.

They walked through each of the rooms together before doing anything. The house was really small, so it didn't take long. First up, the living room. Messy, but nothing jumped out. Next up, the kitchen. Eric found a bloody steak knife. He photographed it but did not yet collect it. They walked down a short hallway. On one side was a bathroom and a closet. On the other, a bedroom. Calleigh opened the door to the bathroom. There was blood in the bathtub, and high velocity spatter on the wall inside the tub. She took some more photos. Eric checked the closet, nothing.

They met up again for the bedroom. Eric walked in and looked around. Calleigh opened the small closet next to the bed. "Eric!"

Eric whirled around and was at her side in an instant. He peered into the closet. On the floor was another white shirt, tie, and pair of slacks. On the shirt was a name badge that read "Elder Aaron Fulton."

"Damn!" Eric said.

"Well, I don't see any blood or anything, maybe he's still alive."

"Let's hope so, Calleigh."

Neither CSI noticed Frank Tripp standing behind them. "Hey, if you two are done, we got something else out back you need to see."

Calleigh stayed behind to collect the clothes from the closet, and Eric followed Tripp outside. He saw two uniformed officers next to a fence. One of them was in a catcher's stance, and appeared to be pulling on something. As Eric approached, he could see the officer having a tug of war with a little black lab puppy. The object the officer and dog were fighting over was another neck-tie.

Eric slowly approached the animal, and saw it was watching him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey there little buddy," he said calmly, why don't you come over and see me?"

The dog continued to pull on the tie. Eric looked around, and saw a rawhide bone on the ground a few yards away. He picked it up.

"You want this instead?" He held the bone toward the puppy. The dog let go of the tie and came and took the bone from him.

"Well," he said, "Clint Davis's body was missing his neck tie." Eric looked it over. It was covered in blood. Between the dog and the officer's bare hands, the tie and no evidentiary value now, but it was a clue. If the blood in the bathroom belonged to Davis, it would mean he had been killed here.

A voice spoke up from behind him, it was Calleigh. "Hey, Beastmaster, quit playing with the dog and come process the bathroom."

–14–

Horatio had been somewhat reluctant to let Ryan drive, but in the end he had relented. Besides, Horatio needed to work the phones. He had been trying to get through to Orlando Ramos, but his phone was constantly busy. That was a good thing. Finally, after a few tries, he got through.

"Hey Orlando, it's Horatio Caine."

"Hey Horatio, I was just gonna call you. I'm on my way somewhere, and you might want to join me."

"The Naval base?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I'll tell you later, what have you got?"

"Well they checked their explosives, and found some C-4 and blasting caps unaccounted for. One of their explosives techs is also missing."

"Do we have a name?"

"Yeah, Private Gary Busch. His DNA profile and fingerprints are being sent to your lab as we speak."

"Excellent. Do they have any cargo vehicles missing?"

"I don't know. I'm almost there, I'll ask when I get there."

"We'll be right behind you."

"Alright. "I'll tell them at the gate."

About ten minutes later, Ryan pulled the hummer up to the gate, and they were waved through. They headed through the base to the Military Police headquarters, where they met up with Ramos. Yelina had ridden in with Orlando. They exchanged greetings, and headed into the MP's office.

They were greeted inside by Commander Doug Stenson, the head of the MP unit. Horatio explained their theory to the commander.

"Well, it could happen Lieutenant Caine, but that tech would have to have a lot of help."

"Yes, but we suspect he's already back on base, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone to sea by now."

"Well, let me check some things out." The commander picked up his phone and called out to the dock watch. After a few minutes of inaudible conversation, he turned back to Horatio and his companions. "We've had five cargo ships go out the last 24 hours, if your theory is right, it would be one of those."

"Are they all military ships?" Ryan asked.

"No, only two of them are. Three are private contractors."

"Private Contractors?"

"Yes, like Haliburton. Companies the military hires to take care of transport, feeding the troops, running the gas for the tanks. All kinds of things."

Yelina observed aloud what they were all thinking. "My money is on one of the contractor ships."

"I agree Detective. We're trying to hail all three of those ships right now."

A minute or so later, the commander's phone rang again. After a short conversation, his face got very stern. "Well, one of those ships is unresponsive. The _Andretta._ Cargo supposedly bound for Guantanamo Bay."

"Cuba," Orlando said.

"Yes," Horatio said, thinking out loud. "Once they get those exhibits into Cuba, they'll be on the fence in a matter of hours, and we'll be at the end of the line."

–15–

After a grueling time processing the bathroom, Eric and Calleigh met up back outside the house to go over what they knew before, and what they knew now. "Well," Eric started, "we know Aaron Fulton is probably still alive somewhere."

"Hopefully," Calleigh said. "The question is where."

"Did you see anything in the house that might help us out with that?"

"No, Eric. Did you?"

"Unfortunately no."

"Well, we know the green Taurus at the original scene was stolen. Does Mr. Burnett have a car registered to his name?"

"I'll go ask Tripp to check it out," Eric said.

As he left, Calleigh walked out back again. She looked over the landscape of the beaten up neighborhood. Her hopes were falling. One of their victims was already dead. The people who abducted them had proved they were capable of killing. That was not good news. It would be easier the second time around.

Then she turned and walked back up the driveway toward the front of the house. They had been so close. After they had gotten the DNA hit from CODIS, they were hoping that would be the case-breaker. Maybe it still would be, but it would it break in time to save this young man's life?

Eric approached. "Hey Calleigh, Burnett has a 1991 Pontiac Grand-Prix registered to him. Gray in color, Florida plates. Tripp just put a BOLO out for it."

"Hey thanks Eric. Hopefully that will help, that's probably about all we have to....." her voice trailed off, as she looked beyond Eric, further down the drive-way.

He looked into her eyes, "Are you OK?"

She gently pushed him aside and snapped on a new pair of gloves. Eric tried to follow her line of sight, but wasn't successful. He shrugged and followed her down the drive-way.

She paused and bent down. She seemed to be peering just off the driveway, a couple of inches into the un-kept lawn. She gently picked up a wad of paper, and showed it to Eric. "It's wet."

Eric looked puzzled. "It hasn't rained recently."

"Saliva." Calleigh grimaced a bit as she said this. Eric took a swab from his kit and collected a sample. More fun for Valera. After he finished, Calleigh carefully unfolded the wad of paper. It had a single line on it.

OLD FIRST PRESBY

Calleigh looked puzzled. The little note had obviously been written in haste. The Y on the end trailed off toward the edge of the paper, as if the writer had been interrupted. Eric looked over her shoulder and read it.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

"I have no clue."

Tripp came up behind them and read the note. "Hmm. I'd say it means the old First Presbyterian Church over on Hanover, about five miles from here."

Eric and Calliegh both whirled around to face the detective. Frank stared at them blankly. Calleigh dropped the note in an evidence bag, as both her and Delko made a mad dash for their hummer.

Eric called back, "Come ON Frank!"

–16–

Private Gary Busch stood on the deck of the _Andretta._ He couldn't believe it. Their plan had gone off with out a hitch. His buddy, Mark Bean worked with Four Alarm security. He had mentioned over dinner one night that they would be guarding that new Rock N' Roll exhibit for a few days while the museum finished some renovations.

_At first they had just speculated what all that stuff must have been worth. Millions certainly. Man, if they could get their hands on that! They had batted it around for awhile. A couple of drunk guys over dinner. Then the talk had gotten more serious._

_Busch thought they could do it. Mark could get them in. Gary knew some guys who worked for a local military contractor who could probably help them out. They put out some feelers._

_In time, they realized it could be done, and they had the resources. The guys from the contacting company would get a small cut, but he and Mark were in charge, they would get the most. Gary washed all of his fatigues, and bought a few more. All the contractors arranged to come in on the proper evening on the Andretta. Gary and Mark were waiting as the rest of their crew stepped off the ship at the base. _

_There were four trucks, with a group of three apiece. They left the base in the military trucks, getting a snappy salute from the sentries. About an hour later, they arrived at the Four-Alarm Warehouse. Mark knew Chip Timmins and Randy Bates were on duty. Randy could be talked down. Chip might not, but Mark had a backup plan._

_As they pulled up, Mark had been surprised to only see Chip's car. Maybe this would be easy. Gary had waited in the car while mark went and knocked on the door. Gary had seen Chip answer. Mark had talked to him a minute, and then followed him inside. A few seconds later, Gary heard a gunshot. Then, after that, the door to the Warehouse opened._

_Mark had laid out the plan before. He had mapped out everything, and what truck each box went in. Everybody knew where they were supposed to go. It took them about 45 minutes to load the cargo. After that, Gary did his part, planting the bomb. It would be a good distraction for the cops. The building would burn, and it would give them what he hoped would be just enough time to get the exhibit on the boat and out of U.S. waters._

They were close now. The city of Miami far in the distance. The plans forthe _Andretta_ were to take food and supplies to the US Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but that wouldn't happen till they had dropped off the "sensitive" cargo elsewhere in the embargoed country. Thank god for Fidel, he thought.

It was a gorgeous day on the sea, sun-shining, waves crashing against the hull of the cargo vessel, helicopter blades approaching....

_HELICOPTER BLADES?_

Gary looked back behind him, there coming from the northwest, were three helicopters. They bore the unmistakable orange and white of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Navy Jet flew overhead. He was in trouble, a lot of it.

The helicopters came down closer to the water and occluded the path of the _Andretta_. Two high-speed U.S. Navy cutters came into view on the horizon behind them. It would be over very shortly.

About 30 minutes later the Navy boats were along side. The presence of the Coast-Guard helicopters kept everyone on deck. Five military police officers boarded first and started handcuffing people. Gary at first thought of running and jumping off of the boat, but there was nowhere to go.

Following the MP's, a short young man wearing a garish orange shirt and a cap that read "CSI" boarded. He looked around, then headed for the cargo hold. After him came an attractive female in a business suit, with a gun. A detective, Gary thought, Columbian maybe?

The last man to board from the starboard side was a tall, thin, redheaded man in sunglasses. He stopped, put his hands on hips and looked over the boat. The younger man in the CSI cap came up and spoke to him, and handed him a piece of paper. The man in the sunglasses approached Gary.

"Private Gary Busch?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Horatio Caine. Miami Dade Crime Lab. You, my new friend, are under arrest."

–17–

Eric drove the CSI hummer passed the old, abandoned church. The building still held some of it's sacred luster, but the gang-tags were starting to outweigh the appeal of the stain-glass windows. Parked in an alley-way behind the church, was a gray Grand-Am, and a newer black SUV. Eric called Tripp, and told him it looked good, that the suspect was inside.

Eric parked a block or so away with Tripp and two uniform units behind him. Tripp wanted to call SWAT, but Aaron Fulton's life hung in the balance. They had Frank, Eric, Calleigh, and four uniformed officers. They decided to go in.

They approached from the rear of the church, and they crept along the side of the building with the fewest windows. The windows that weren't stain glass were covered in grime and dust, which worked to their advantage.

They made their way to the front door, which was locked. Calleigh wanted to lift fingerprints from the handle, but at the moment, they were rescuers, not CSIs. Eric pulled a little harder on the door, and it came open. "Just stuck," he said.

Calleigh pouted a bit as all the guys went in ahead of her. Tripp led, followed by Eric and the uniforms. Then Calleigh. The door opened up into a large, but run-down sanctuary. The line of officers moved their way up the middle, behind the pulpit. Then Calleigh heard a door creek open ever-so slightly.

She paused.

A gunshot rang out and the uniform officer in front of her fell back onto her. She felt the warmth of blood hit her chest. She looked up to see both Eric and Frank firing their guns off to the side of the pulpit. She pulled the fallen officer behind an old organ, out of the line of fire. He had been hit in the shoulder. "You OK?"

The officer coughed and nodded. Calleigh gripped her own gun and peaked out from behind the organ. Frank and the other three officers had chased someone out another side door. Calleigh could see Eric kneeling beside a young man, who was gagged and tied up. Eric appeared to be untying him. Calleigh walked toward the door. The room Eric and the young man were in appeared to be some sort of storage area.

She started to holster her weapon as she approached the open doorway. Eric, his back to her, was still untying the young man. Then, just as Calleigh entered, she saw a man creep out of the shadows, pistol in hand. Eric had no clue what was coming.

Another shot rang out.

–18–

The church was now surrounded by police vehicles and ambulances. Tripp was in the process of being chewed out over the phone for not calling in SWAT.

A gurney was rolled out of the church, the body totally covered in a white sheet, red blood soaking through. Calleigh gazed at it as tears began to roll down her face.

Some other uniformed officers sat with the young man, Aaron Fulton. He was alive and well. He needed to be taken to a hospital and checked out, but he would be ok, physically anyway.

One of the swing-shift CSIs approached her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew his name. It didn't matter much at the moment.

"Calleigh, I need your gun."

Composing herself, she handed it over to him.

"How many shots did you fire?"

"Just one."

"Thank you."

Tears rolled down her face again as the CSI took her gun. Then Eric Delko emerged from the church. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright?"

She turned toward him. "No, Eric, I took a man's life. We should have waited."

Eric managed a smile. "Well, if it's any comfort, you saved my life. Plus, if we had waited, Aaron Fulton might be dead."

Calleigh wiped her eyes, and looked up into Eric's eyes. "I could use a good night's sleep," she said.

He smiled back. "Me too, we don't have to process this scene. Lets go."

–19–

The next morning, Horatio's day shift all met back in the lab. They all looked tired. Calleigh and Eric both had a couple days leave, since they both had fired shots. They were both up before the shooting board tomorrow, but not even Internal Affairs could find anything wrong in their actions. Calleigh just wanted her gun back, and to put it behind her.

Horatio spoke up first. "Good job everyone. I know the last couple days have been really tough. However, we've all done our jobs. We've rescued a young man, and saved a priceless exhibit."

"Too bad we didn't help Clint Davis."

"There wasn't anything else you could have done Eric."

"Thanks, H."

Ryan asked Calleigh, "Did you ever figure out why they abducted those missionaries anyway?

"Yes, she answered." The men that Tripp tracked down worked for the strip club and sex-shop that the church helped put out of business. These guys were bad news. Tripp says he suspects there's an organized crime connection in there too. They were hoping they could intimidate the church out of the area. They just crossed the wrong people."

"But why did they kill Clint Davis?"

"Well, apparently he told Mr. Burnett that he would make sure the church shut him down, even if he had to do it from heaven, and Mr Burnett obliged by 'sending him there.' Apparently after that, they decided to move Aaron Fulton. Aaron got them to untie him long enough to use the bathroom. He had gotten a pen and small peace of paper off the floor in the closet he had been kept in, and put them in the pocket of the jeans they gave him. While in the bathroom he scribbled the note, because he had overheard Burnett say where he was taking him. He put it in his mouth and spit it out on the side of the driveway. He was very fortunate Burnett didn't gag him."

"And who was this Mr. Burnett? He's the one you shot, right Calliegh?"

"Yes, he was a bouncer in the strip club that got closed. Tripp says his background stinks of mob."

"Well, at least that's one off the streets. Good job, Calleigh. You saved Eric and Mr. Fulton."

Eric put his hand over hers on the table, and Calleigh smiled for the first time in two days.

THE END

Notes–

First off, I used the LDS missionary because I am acquainted with the culture. Though not LDS myself, many of my friends have gone on missions, and I consulted them on this story. No offense to anyone is intended by their use here.

Second, I know nothing about Miami, so sorry if it seems a bit unrealistic in places. I've been to Vegas a lot, so I feel more comfortable in that setting. However, for me, the Miami characters offer a little more to work with sometimes.

Finally, sorry it's a little long. However, it's about what I thought I'd get. I hope there's something for all the Miami fans in there, not just the Eric/Calleigh folks.I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


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